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Thank you very much for your help and the links. I did those steps with the Tea Timer, but it didn't help for some reason. You're right the other problems are Windows related. I had to reinstall Windows XP. The problems I mentioned have gone away. I still have all my files including the applications, but need to reinstall everything to synchronize the computer. This is a great site. I would love to learn more or maybe take a class later.

The computer loads up faster than it used to since I did the virus scans. I still have these things. When I lose the connection dialog without closing the browser, it still seems to work okay. Although yesterday some pages were not showing up and the images disappeared. Then I cleared all private data and it was okay. I'm using Mozilla Firefox. Thanks for telling me about the updates and shutdown message. There are a couple of other messages that I get from SpyBot. Both from Session Manager:Value Deleted. First is BootExecute- old data: autocheck autochk * and the second is ExcludeFromKnownDlls. I'm not sure what these are yet, so I deny the changes without using the 'remember this decision' option until I know for sure. I still get a blank dialog box with something that looks like brackets in the upper left corner when the computer boots up, but doesn't happen when computer is restarted. This happens before the normal user login and password. I can't close the blank box without hitting the button.

Yes, the tab is enabled. When I check the box for 'turn off System Restore on all drives', a confirmation message says all existing restore points will be deleted and I will not be able to track or undo changes to the computer. I clicked Yes and it says it encountered an error trying to enable/disable one or more drives (C and D). Please restart machine and try again. Now the box is unchecked. It looks like I'm unable to check the box to turn if off, reboot, then check the box again. P.S. I'm still getting an option to update system and shutdown when the computer is turned off. Since I don't know what the updates are and I want to make sure the computer will turn on again. I keep changing the option to shutdown only.

I deleted the two files. I cannot get to System Restore after Programs in the Start Menu, even if I switch it to classic view. I used Windows Explorer and found it here: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\System Tools I get the following message... System Restore is not able to protect your computer. Please restart your computer, and then run System Restore again. I moved the old email from the previous version to put on CD later. Or I might decide to delete that folder. I think I need to continue saving what I need to from the current folder and delete the rest.

When I shut down the computer last night, I got a strange option to update and shutdown. I know I didn't do anything new, so I changed it to shutdown only. I also unplugged the modem wire since it's not working right now. I am attaching a zip file of the Gmer text to this post. gmer_text.zip

The file is too big too post all of it at once. I just tried posting a portion of it here and it didn't show up. Can I attach the file here or email it to you? I have to sign off tonight, but I will check back in the morning.

I thought Panda had stopped, because it got stuck on that darn mail folder. It's probably not a good idea to save mail between upgrades. However, it's been very useful to go back and review on some things. I hate to lose all of it. It's still going at about 50%. So far it has cleaned and disinfected 29 viruses (it was 27 right before this post). It has detected 33 spywares and 5 hacking tools and rootkits. Yikes! That doesn't sound good. I know this version of Panda will only disinfect viruses, so what do I do now? Is it time to reformat the hard drive? I'll let the scan continue until further notice.

No, I'm not sharing FWD emails. Most of it's from a backup mail folder, a previous version of Netscape Mail and an old email list group. Norton was catching most of it. Panda ActiveScan is started with IE again. It's currently at about 50%. Results will be posted tomorrow morning.